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OAuth 2.0 Resource Server Opaque Token

Minimal Dependencies for Introspection

As described in Minimal Dependencies for JWT most of Resource Server support is collected in spring-security-oauth2-resource-server. However unless a custom ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector is provided, the Resource Server will fallback to ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector. Meaning that both spring-security-oauth2-resource-server and oauth2-oidc-sdk are necessary in order to have a working minimal Resource Server that supports opaque Bearer Tokens. Please refer to spring-security-oauth2-resource-server in order to determin the correct version for oauth2-oidc-sdk.

Minimal Configuration for Introspection

Typically, an opaque token can be verified via an OAuth 2.0 Introspection Endpoint, hosted by the authorization server. This can be handy when revocation is a requirement.

When using Spring Boot, configuring an application as a resource server that uses introspection consists of two basic steps. First, include the needed dependencies and second, indicate the introspection endpoint details.

Specifying the Authorization Server

To specify where the introspection endpoint is, simply do:

spring:
  security:
    oauth2:
      resourceserver:
        opaque-token:
          introspection-uri: https://idp.example.com/introspect
          client-id: client
          client-secret: secret

Where idp.example.com/introspect is the introspection endpoint hosted by your authorization server and client-id and client-secret are the credentials needed to hit that endpoint.

Resource Server will use these properties to further self-configure and subsequently validate incoming JWTs.

When using introspection, the authorization server’s word is the law. If the authorization server responses that the token is valid, then it is.

And that’s it!

Startup Expectations

When this property and these dependencies are used, Resource Server will automatically configure itself to validate Opaque Bearer Tokens.

This startup process is quite a bit simpler than for JWTs since no endpoints need to be discovered and no additional validation rules get added.

Runtime Expectations

Once the application is started up, Resource Server will attempt to process any request containing an Authorization: Bearer header:

GET / HTTP/1.1
Authorization: Bearer some-token-value # Resource Server will process this

So long as this scheme is indicated, Resource Server will attempt to process the request according to the Bearer Token specification.

Given an Opaque Token, Resource Server will

  1. Query the provided introspection endpoint using the provided credentials and the token

  2. Inspect the response for an { 'active' : true } attribute

  3. Map each scope to an authority with the prefix SCOPE_

The resulting Authentication#getPrincipal, by default, is a Spring Security OAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal object, and Authentication#getName maps to the token’s sub property, if one is present.

From here, you may want to jump to:

Looking Up Attributes Post-Authentication

Once a token is authenticated, an instance of BearerTokenAuthentication is set in the SecurityContext.

This means that it’s available in @Controller methods when using @EnableWebFlux in your configuration:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@GetMapping("/foo")
public Mono<String> foo(BearerTokenAuthentication authentication) {
    return Mono.just(authentication.getTokenAttributes().get("sub") + " is the subject");
}
@GetMapping("/foo")
fun foo(authentication: BearerTokenAuthentication): Mono<String> {
    return Mono.just(authentication.tokenAttributes["sub"].toString() + " is the subject")
}

Since BearerTokenAuthentication holds an OAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal, that also means that it’s available to controller methods, too:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@GetMapping("/foo")
public Mono<String> foo(@AuthenticationPrincipal OAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal principal) {
    return Mono.just(principal.getAttribute("sub") + " is the subject");
}
@GetMapping("/foo")
fun foo(@AuthenticationPrincipal principal: OAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal): Mono<String> {
    return Mono.just(principal.getAttribute<Any>("sub").toString() + " is the subject")
}

Looking Up Attributes Via SpEL

Of course, this also means that attributes can be accessed via SpEL.

For example, if using @EnableReactiveMethodSecurity so that you can use @PreAuthorize annotations, you can do:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@PreAuthorize("principal?.attributes['sub'] = 'foo'")
public Mono<String> forFoosEyesOnly() {
    return Mono.just("foo");
}
@PreAuthorize("principal.attributes['sub'] = 'foo'")
fun forFoosEyesOnly(): Mono<String> {
    return Mono.just("foo")
}

Overriding or Replacing Boot Auto Configuration

There are two @Beans that Spring Boot generates on Resource Server’s behalf.

The first is a SecurityWebFilterChain that configures the app as a resource server. When use Opaque Token, this SecurityWebFilterChain looks like:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Bean
SecurityWebFilterChain springSecurityFilterChain(ServerHttpSecurity http) {
	http
		.authorizeExchange(exchanges -> exchanges
			.anyExchange().authenticated()
		)
		.oauth2ResourceServer(ServerHttpSecurity.OAuth2ResourceServerSpec::opaqueToken)
	return http.build();
}
@Bean
fun springSecurityFilterChain(http: ServerHttpSecurity): SecurityWebFilterChain {
    return http {
        authorizeExchange {
            authorize(anyExchange, authenticated)
        }
        oauth2ResourceServer {
            opaqueToken { }
        }
    }
}

If the application doesn’t expose a SecurityWebFilterChain bean, then Spring Boot will expose the above default one.

Replacing this is as simple as exposing the bean within the application:

Replacing SecurityWebFilterChain

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@EnableWebFluxSecurity
public class MyCustomSecurityConfiguration {
    @Bean
    SecurityWebFilterChain springSecurityFilterChain(ServerHttpSecurity http) {
        http
            .authorizeExchange(exchanges -> exchanges
                .pathMatchers("/messages/**").hasAuthority("SCOPE_message:read")
                .anyExchange().authenticated()
            )
            .oauth2ResourceServer(oauth2 -> oauth2
                .opaqueToken(opaqueToken -> opaqueToken
                    .introspector(myIntrospector())
                )
            );
        return http.build();
    }
}
@Bean
fun springSecurityFilterChain(http: ServerHttpSecurity): SecurityWebFilterChain {
    return http {
        authorizeExchange {
            authorize("/messages/**", hasAuthority("SCOPE_message:read"))
            authorize(anyExchange, authenticated)
        }
        oauth2ResourceServer {
            opaqueToken {
                introspector = myIntrospector()
            }
        }
    }
}

The above requires the scope of message:read for any URL that starts with /messages/.

Methods on the oauth2ResourceServer DSL will also override or replace auto configuration.

For example, the second @Bean Spring Boot creates is a ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector, which decodes String tokens into validated instances of OAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Bean
public ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector introspector() {
    return new NimbusReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector(introspectionUri, clientId, clientSecret);
}
@Bean
fun introspector(): ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector {
    return NimbusReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector(introspectionUri, clientId, clientSecret)
}

If the application doesn’t expose a ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector bean, then Spring Boot will expose the above default one.

And its configuration can be overridden using introspectionUri() and introspectionClientCredentials() or replaced using introspector().

Using introspectionUri()

An authorization server’s Introspection Uri can be configured as a configuration property or it can be supplied in the DSL:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@EnableWebFluxSecurity
public class DirectlyConfiguredIntrospectionUri {
    @Bean
    SecurityWebFilterChain springSecurityFilterChain(ServerHttpSecurity http) {
        http
            .authorizeExchange(exchanges -> exchanges
                .anyExchange().authenticated()
            )
            .oauth2ResourceServer(oauth2 -> oauth2
                .opaqueToken(opaqueToken -> opaqueToken
                    .introspectionUri("https://idp.example.com/introspect")
                    .introspectionClientCredentials("client", "secret")
                )
            );
        return http.build();
    }
}
@Bean
fun springSecurityFilterChain(http: ServerHttpSecurity): SecurityWebFilterChain {
    return http {
        authorizeExchange {
            authorize(anyExchange, authenticated)
        }
        oauth2ResourceServer {
            opaqueToken {
                introspectionUri = "https://idp.example.com/introspect"
                introspectionClientCredentials("client", "secret")
            }
        }
    }
}

Using introspectionUri() takes precedence over any configuration property.

Using introspector()

More powerful than introspectionUri() is introspector(), which will completely replace any Boot auto configuration of ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@EnableWebFluxSecurity
public class DirectlyConfiguredIntrospector {
    @Bean
    SecurityWebFilterChain springSecurityFilterChain(ServerHttpSecurity http) {
        http
            .authorizeExchange(exchanges -> exchanges
                .anyExchange().authenticated()
            )
            .oauth2ResourceServer(oauth2 -> oauth2
                .opaqueToken(opaqueToken -> opaqueToken
                    .introspector(myCustomIntrospector())
                )
            );
        return http.build();
    }
}
@Bean
fun springSecurityFilterChain(http: ServerHttpSecurity): SecurityWebFilterChain {
    return http {
        authorizeExchange {
            authorize(anyExchange, authenticated)
        }
        oauth2ResourceServer {
            opaqueToken {
                introspector = myCustomIntrospector()
            }
        }
    }
}

This is handy when deeper configuration, like authority mappingor JWT revocation is necessary.

Exposing a ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector @Bean

Or, exposing a ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector @Bean has the same effect as introspector():

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Bean
public ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector introspector() {
    return new NimbusReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector(introspectionUri, clientId, clientSecret);
}
@Bean
fun introspector(): ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector {
    return NimbusReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector(introspectionUri, clientId, clientSecret)
}

Configuring Authorization

An OAuth 2.0 Introspection endpoint will typically return a scope attribute, indicating the scopes (or authorities) it’s been granted, for example:

{ …​, "scope" : "messages contacts"}

When this is the case, Resource Server will attempt to coerce these scopes into a list of granted authorities, prefixing each scope with the string "SCOPE_".

This means that to protect an endpoint or method with a scope derived from an Opaque Token, the corresponding expressions should include this prefix:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@EnableWebFluxSecurity
public class MappedAuthorities {
    @Bean
    SecurityWebFilterChain springSecurityFilterChain(ServerHttpSecurity http) {
        http
            .authorizeExchange(exchange -> exchange
                .pathMatchers("/contacts/**").hasAuthority("SCOPE_contacts")
                .pathMatchers("/messages/**").hasAuthority("SCOPE_messages")
                .anyExchange().authenticated()
            )
            .oauth2ResourceServer(ServerHttpSecurity.OAuth2ResourceServerSpec::opaqueToken);
        return http.build();
    }
}
@Bean
fun springSecurityFilterChain(http: ServerHttpSecurity): SecurityWebFilterChain {
    return http {
        authorizeExchange {
            authorize("/contacts/**", hasAuthority("SCOPE_contacts"))
            authorize("/messages/**", hasAuthority("SCOPE_messages"))
            authorize(anyExchange, authenticated)
        }
        oauth2ResourceServer {
            opaqueToken { }
        }
    }
}

Or similarly with method security:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@PreAuthorize("hasAuthority('SCOPE_messages')")
public Flux<Message> getMessages(...) {}
@PreAuthorize("hasAuthority('SCOPE_messages')")
fun getMessages(): Flux<Message> { }

Extracting Authorities Manually

By default, Opaque Token support will extract the scope claim from an introspection response and parse it into individual GrantedAuthority instances.

For example, if the introspection response were:

{
    "active" : true,
    "scope" : "message:read message:write"
}

Then Resource Server would generate an Authentication with two authorities, one for message:read and the other for message:write.

This can, of course, be customized using a custom ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector that takes a look at the attribute set and converts in its own way:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

public class CustomAuthoritiesOpaqueTokenIntrospector implements ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector {
    private ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector delegate =
            new NimbusReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector("https://idp.example.org/introspect", "client", "secret");

    public Mono<OAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal> introspect(String token) {
        return this.delegate.introspect(token)
                .map(principal -> new DefaultOAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal(
                        principal.getName(), principal.getAttributes(), extractAuthorities(principal)));
    }

    private Collection<GrantedAuthority> extractAuthorities(OAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal principal) {
        List<String> scopes = principal.getAttribute(OAuth2IntrospectionClaimNames.SCOPE);
        return scopes.stream()
                .map(SimpleGrantedAuthority::new)
                .collect(Collectors.toList());
    }
}
class CustomAuthoritiesOpaqueTokenIntrospector : ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector {
    private val delegate: ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector = NimbusReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector("https://idp.example.org/introspect", "client", "secret")
    override fun introspect(token: String): Mono<OAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal> {
        return delegate.introspect(token)
                .map { principal: OAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal ->
                    DefaultOAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal(
                            principal.name, principal.attributes, extractAuthorities(principal))
                }
    }

    private fun extractAuthorities(principal: OAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal): Collection<GrantedAuthority> {
        val scopes = principal.getAttribute<List<String>>(OAuth2IntrospectionClaimNames.SCOPE)
        return scopes
                .map { SimpleGrantedAuthority(it) }
    }
}

Thereafter, this custom introspector can be configured simply by exposing it as a @Bean:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Bean
public ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector introspector() {
    return new CustomAuthoritiesOpaqueTokenIntrospector();
}
@Bean
fun introspector(): ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector {
    return CustomAuthoritiesOpaqueTokenIntrospector()
}

Using Introspection with JWTs

A common question is whether or not introspection is compatible with JWTs. Spring Security’s Opaque Token support has been designed to not care about the format of the token — it will gladly pass any token to the introspection endpoint provided.

So, let’s say that you’ve got a requirement that requires you to check with the authorization server on each request, in case the JWT has been revoked.

Even though you are using the JWT format for the token, your validation method is introspection, meaning you’d want to do:

spring:
  security:
    oauth2:
      resourceserver:
        opaque-token:
          introspection-uri: https://idp.example.org/introspection
          client-id: client
          client-secret: secret

In this case, the resulting Authentication would be BearerTokenAuthentication. Any attributes in the corresponding OAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal would be whatever was returned by the introspection endpoint.

But, let’s say that, oddly enough, the introspection endpoint only returns whether or not the token is active. Now what?

In this case, you can create a custom ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector that still hits the endpoint, but then updates the returned principal to have the JWTs claims as the attributes:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

public class JwtOpaqueTokenIntrospector implements ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector {
	private ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector delegate =
			new NimbusReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector("https://idp.example.org/introspect", "client", "secret");
	private ReactiveJwtDecoder jwtDecoder = new NimbusReactiveJwtDecoder(new ParseOnlyJWTProcessor());

	public Mono<OAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal> introspect(String token) {
		return this.delegate.introspect(token)
				.flatMap(principal -> this.jwtDecoder.decode(token))
				.map(jwt -> new DefaultOAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal(jwt.getClaims(), NO_AUTHORITIES));
	}

	private static class ParseOnlyJWTProcessor implements Converter<JWT, Mono<JWTClaimsSet>> {
		public Mono<JWTClaimsSet> convert(JWT jwt) {
			try {
				return Mono.just(jwt.getJWTClaimsSet());
			} catch (Exception ex) {
				return Mono.error(ex);
			}
		}
	}
}
class JwtOpaqueTokenIntrospector : ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector {
    private val delegate: ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector = NimbusReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector("https://idp.example.org/introspect", "client", "secret")
    private val jwtDecoder: ReactiveJwtDecoder = NimbusReactiveJwtDecoder(ParseOnlyJWTProcessor())
    override fun introspect(token: String): Mono<OAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal> {
        return delegate.introspect(token)
                .flatMap { jwtDecoder.decode(token) }
                .map { jwt: Jwt -> DefaultOAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal(jwt.claims, NO_AUTHORITIES) }
    }

    private class ParseOnlyJWTProcessor : Converter<JWT, Mono<JWTClaimsSet>> {
        override fun convert(jwt: JWT): Mono<JWTClaimsSet> {
            return try {
                Mono.just(jwt.jwtClaimsSet)
            } catch (e: Exception) {
                Mono.error(e)
            }
        }
    }
}

Thereafter, this custom introspector can be configured simply by exposing it as a @Bean:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Bean
public ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector introspector() {
    return new JwtOpaqueTokenIntropsector();
}
@Bean
fun introspector(): ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector {
    return JwtOpaqueTokenIntrospector()
}

Calling a /userinfo Endpoint

Generally speaking, a Resource Server doesn’t care about the underlying user, but instead about the authorities that have been granted.

That said, at times it can be valuable to tie the authorization statement back to a user.

If an application is also using spring-security-oauth2-client, having set up the appropriate ClientRegistrationRepository, then this is quite simple with a custom OpaqueTokenIntrospector. This implementation below does three things:

  • Delegates to the introspection endpoint, to affirm the token’s validity

  • Looks up the appropriate client registration associated with the /userinfo endpoint

  • Invokes and returns the response from the /userinfo endpoint

  • Java

  • Kotlin

public class UserInfoOpaqueTokenIntrospector implements ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector {
	private final ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector delegate =
			new NimbusReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector("https://idp.example.org/introspect", "client", "secret");
	private final ReactiveOAuth2UserService<OAuth2UserRequest, OAuth2User> oauth2UserService =
			new DefaultReactiveOAuth2UserService();

	private final ReactiveClientRegistrationRepository repository;

	// ... constructor

	@Override
	public Mono<OAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal> introspect(String token) {
		return Mono.zip(this.delegate.introspect(token), this.repository.findByRegistrationId("registration-id"))
				.map(t -> {
					OAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal authorized = t.getT1();
					ClientRegistration clientRegistration = t.getT2();
					Instant issuedAt = authorized.getAttribute(ISSUED_AT);
					Instant expiresAt = authorized.getAttribute(OAuth2IntrospectionClaimNames.EXPIRES_AT);
					OAuth2AccessToken accessToken = new OAuth2AccessToken(BEARER, token, issuedAt, expiresAt);
					return new OAuth2UserRequest(clientRegistration, accessToken);
				})
				.flatMap(this.oauth2UserService::loadUser);
	}
}
class UserInfoOpaqueTokenIntrospector : ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector {
    private val delegate: ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector = NimbusReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector("https://idp.example.org/introspect", "client", "secret")
    private val oauth2UserService: ReactiveOAuth2UserService<OAuth2UserRequest, OAuth2User> = DefaultReactiveOAuth2UserService()
    private val repository: ReactiveClientRegistrationRepository? = null

    // ... constructor
    override fun introspect(token: String?): Mono<OAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal> {
        return Mono.zip<OAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal, ClientRegistration>(delegate.introspect(token), repository!!.findByRegistrationId("registration-id"))
                .map<OAuth2UserRequest> { t: Tuple2<OAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal, ClientRegistration> ->
                    val authorized = t.t1
                    val clientRegistration = t.t2
                    val issuedAt: Instant? = authorized.getAttribute(ISSUED_AT)
                    val expiresAt: Instant? = authorized.getAttribute(OAuth2IntrospectionClaimNames.EXPIRES_AT)
                    val accessToken = OAuth2AccessToken(BEARER, token, issuedAt, expiresAt)
                    OAuth2UserRequest(clientRegistration, accessToken)
                }
                .flatMap { userRequest: OAuth2UserRequest -> oauth2UserService.loadUser(userRequest) }
    }
}

If you aren’t using spring-security-oauth2-client, it’s still quite simple. You will simply need to invoke the /userinfo with your own instance of WebClient:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

public class UserInfoOpaqueTokenIntrospector implements ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector {
    private final ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector delegate =
            new NimbusReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector("https://idp.example.org/introspect", "client", "secret");
    private final WebClient rest = WebClient.create();

    @Override
    public Mono<OAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal> introspect(String token) {
        return this.delegate.introspect(token)
		        .map(this::makeUserInfoRequest);
    }
}
class UserInfoOpaqueTokenIntrospector : ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector {
    private val delegate: ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector = NimbusReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector("https://idp.example.org/introspect", "client", "secret")
    private val rest: WebClient = WebClient.create()

    override fun introspect(token: String): Mono<OAuth2AuthenticatedPrincipal> {
        return delegate.introspect(token)
                .map(this::makeUserInfoRequest)
    }
}

Either way, having created your ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector, you should publish it as a @Bean to override the defaults:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Bean
ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector introspector() {
    return new UserInfoOpaqueTokenIntrospector();
}
@Bean
fun introspector(): ReactiveOpaqueTokenIntrospector {
    return UserInfoOpaqueTokenIntrospector()
}